Pennsylvania Environmental Council Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
237286159
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Phone
4124819400
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$7,028,382
Expenses
$5,190,917
Assets
$6,679,487
Liabilities
$1,316,902

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

21 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • PATRICK STARR (EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT)
  • THOMAS GILBERT (PRESIDENT)
  • JANET SWEENEY (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • MEGAN MARRANGONI (VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIO)
  • BRETT HOLLERN (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • THOMAS GILBERT (PRESIDENT): $219,591 total reported compensation
  • JOHN WALLISER (SENIOR VP, LEGAL & GOVERNM): $183,866 total reported compensation
  • PATRICK STARR (EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT): $175,802 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The Pennsylvania environmental council (pec) protects and restores the natural and built environments through innovation, collaboration, education, and advocacy. Pec believes in the value of partnerships with the private sector, government, communities, and individuals to improve the quality of life for all pennsylvanians.

What it reported doing in 2025

Water resources: pec works with public and private partners to protect and restore the commonwealth's water resources, including promoting community restoration efforts, improving watershed function by reducing flooding and pollution through adoption of leading management practices and policies, strengthening Pennsylvania's overall water resource management programs, and recognizing the work of others to improve water resources throughout the state. For more information, please visit our website at www.pecpa.org.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 70% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 86% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 73
  • Accountability: 96
  • Sustainability: 56
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 64.1%; rating input score 64
  • Program expense ratio: 86.2%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $30.23 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 88.2%; rating input score 88; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 93.9%; rating input score 94; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 26.1%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.29; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.2; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 18.2%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4.2% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.2% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 64.1% of revenue deployed · 86.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 16 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $4.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $220K · 21 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $598K reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 38 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 49 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 44 filed related-organization links
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 43/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 17/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 35/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.